Jerry "Stickman" and I just returned from a four-day visit to AC. While the weather outside got down into the teens, Stickman was hotter than Hades. Each of the first three days, he had 40 rolls in every session! He was awe inspiring. In one session he went 8 crazy; in another, he went 6 crazy. Needless to say, I just kept working those numbers as he kept hitting them. Beautiful, beautiful to behold. Stickman has the perfect shot, as many of you have seen in class, on our DVD and in the casinos.
Stickman and I follow the GTC principles all the way and we’d take the dice three times during each session and then call it quits. Neither of us is much of a gambler and three turns turned out to be just right.
As I said, Stickman was hot!
On the other hand, I was not. I stunk. I was an embarrassment. One evening, some dealers mentioned they had seen me on television the day before and I was glowing with pride as they told me I had done a good job, until I went point/seven twice in a row! Yes, Mr. Big Shot television star got shot down. My on-axis control, which is where I usually shine, was dim — in fact it wasn’t there at all!
On the fourth day, Stickman cooled a little and I got better with decent on-axis rolls of 13 and 14 a few times, finally hitting repeating numbers. I think there were only four or five turns with the dice the whole week where I won anything worth mentioning on my throws.
The first night was my favorite. We went down to the craps tables but our spots were taken, so we headed for the high-roller room for a little blackjack. I was intending to bet $100 each on two spots and raise my bets in high counts to as high as I could go without causing the floorperson to become concerned.
In that first shoe, the count only once got to a level where it called for a minuscule raise in bets. I went to $200 on each hand — a one to two spread.
Immediately a hand tapped my shoulder. It was a suit, Michael, who said, "Frank, you can only bet one hand from now on." My word, I had only played one round so far where I raised my bet and bam! over comes the shift manager for so I was told by the dealers who are really friendly towards me.
Of course, when the second shoe was shuffled and the cut card was placed halfway through the decks, Stickman and I retired from playing blackjack for the week. This casino is too good to alienate a shift manager over a single game. This shift manager was someone new and the dealers were disdainful of him. "He is an asshole," said one dealer. "You bring out a lot of people to play here and he treats you like this? What a moron."
When we walked out of the high-roller room, our craps spots were open — stick left one (SL1) for me and stick left two (SL2) for Stickman.
"Let’s teach that guy a lesson," I said. "It would be really nice to hammer the casino after what just happened."
I got the dice. Point/seven out. Then stickman rolled a 48 — number after number after number. We cleaned up! It was poetic and economic justice for two of the Five Horsemen. Hey, casino, you don’t want us to play blackjack? Okay, lets hammer the hell out of craps!
My week was dismal, as I said, but I did have one moment of phenomenal luck at Pai Gow. There is a new version called "Imperial Pai Gow" at this casino that has a "bonus bet" where you can bet from $1 to $25. Stickman and I play as team on the bonus bet and we were putting out some good money. We were also playing the GTC way, you might call it, where we banked every other hand against everyone at the table — an advantage-play method.
My first five cards of one session was a royal straight flush paying 200 to one! That was my contribution to our success…sheer, blind, dumb luck.
I can still see the wondrous form of the Stickman’s throw…perfection!
nineballslim – Jan 6, 2012 11:20 pm (1.)
GTC Graduate & "Legend in My Own Mind."
Quality trip report!
Magnificent sessions and rolls Stick!
It’s got to be difficult Frank, shooting dice with the "Oh Mr. Big Shot TV star" added mental pressure, nearly every Casino Craps session.
Skinny – Jan 7, 2012 3:26 am (2.)
Certified Instructor, GTC Primer/Refresher/TuneUp/Advanced/GTB Grad, 40-Roll/50-Roll/60-Roll Club, Post of Distinction Double Black Chip/Post of the Month Gold Chip
Analysis of Imperial Pai Gow Sidebet
The Player will be paid according to one of the following paytables.
Hand IPG-01 IPG-05 IPG-08 IPG-12 IPG-13 IPG-14 IPG-15 IPG-16
Pays* Pays* Pays* Pays* Pays* Pays* Pays* Pays* Player Hands Five Aces 1000 500 500 1000 500 1000 1000 1000 Royal Flush 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 Straight 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
Flush
Four of 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25
a Kind
Full House 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 Flush 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 4 Three of 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
a Kind
Straight 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Dealer Hands 9-High 100 100 100 200 100 100 100 100
10-High 25 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
Jack-High 5 10 5 5 5 10 5 5 *All payouts are ‘To 1’ as the original wager is returned to the Player as well The following table summarizes the paybacks of each paytable.
The win frequency for each paytable is 19.8455%.
0.1553% of the time the Player will win for both the Player and Dealer hand. Paytable Payback House Advantage
IPG-01 93.9952% 6.0048%
IPG-05 95.9481% 4.0519%
IPG-08 92.8228% 7.1772%
IPG-12 95.2050% 4.7950%
IPG-13 96.8269% 3.1731%
IPG-14 96.3140% 3.6860%
IPG-15 94.4755% 5.5245%
IPG-16 97.1928% 2.8072%
Scobe posts: Thank you Skinny…we’ll be hearing a lot more from Skinny on Pai Gow in the future. He’ll be teaching his advantage-play Pai Gow Poker course in Atlantic City in March!
Stickman – Jan 7, 2012 3:20 pm (4.)
Certified Instructor, 40+ Roll Club, 50+ Roll Club, 60+ Roll Club, 70+ Roll Club
Frank is being very modest. I posted something about Frank’s dice throwing a few months back. Most of his rolls may not have been in the teens plus, but he did hit the 6 and 8 very regularly. Money was made on most of his rolls even though they may not have been epic rolls.
Frank is – even when he says he sucks – a fantastic controlled thrower!
Replies:
Posted by: Skinny on January 11, 2012, 8:58 pm
But I teach a class on Advantage Play Methods for Pai Gow Poker at our classes. The next one will be this March in Atlantic City. You can read the details in the following link:
http://www.goldentouchcraps.com/ap_friday.shtml
The class is geared toward those who have a working knowledge of how the game is played. But if you have never played before it would still be beneficial. I would be happy to work with anyone who has not played the game either before or after the class. We could deal a few hands and I would explain how it would work in the casino. It is a simple game to learn.
Here are the basic rules for the game:
Pai Gow Poker
Pai Gow Poker is played with a standard deck plus a Joker that can be used as an Ace, or to complete a straight or flush. The object is to make the two best poker hands.
You’re dealt seven cards, with which you make a 5-card hand and a 2-card hand. Your 5-card hand must beat your 2-card hand. You play the 5-card hand against the banker’s 5-card hand and the 2-card hand against the banker’s 2-card hand.
The Player wins if both the 5-card and 2-card hands beat the Banker’s corresponding hands. The Banker wins if both the 5-card and 2-card hands beat the Player’s hands.
If you win one hand but lose the other, you push. If one of your hands ranks the same as the banker’s hand, the banker wins the tie. Winning hands pay even money, less 5% commission.
Hands rank as follows:
Five Aces (four aces, one joker)
Royal Flush (A, K, Q, J, 10 suited)
Straight Flush* (five consecutive suited cards)
Four-of-a-Kind
Full House (three cards of one rank and two of another)
Flush (five suited cards)
Straight* (five consecutive unsuited cards.
Three-of-a-Kind
Two Pair
One Pair
* Highest straight is Ace through 10; in Pai Gow Poker second highest straight is Ace through 5)
Posted by: Skinny on January 11, 2012, 10:32 pm
Let’s hook up before or after the Pai Gow Poker class and I can go over the basics with you.
Posted by: Skinny on January 13, 2012, 6:57 pm
That is wonderful 😀 I am very happy to hear you won on your first venture. 200% of your buy in is a terrific win ❗
Yes, Pai Gow Poker is a great way to relax from craps and there are methods you can employ to use it to get an Advantage.
Posted by: ACPA on January 14, 2012, 1:46 am
noah
Posted by: Skinny on January 14, 2012, 3:53 am
Posted by: Skinny on January 21, 2012, 10:55 pm
First off, the Imperial Pai Gow bonus you guys and I played had the IPG-16 Pay Table. That Pay Table has a House Advantage of 2.8%.
One of the times I walked over to play Pai Gow Poker after a craps session, I found there was only one spot available. There were players at the other 5 spots so I sat down in single empty seat at the table. The hand was already in progress so I had to wait for it to be over before I could get in the game. The dealer was just turning over her hand as I sat.
All of a sudden the table erupted with shouting and cheering. The dealer had only a 9-high hand. It pays 100 to 1 on the bonus for the dealer’s hand. One of the players had $25 on the bonus bet and he got paid $2,500 for the bonus. The other 4 players had various smaller amounts and received combinations of $500 and $100 payouts for their bonus bets. I missed out on the big payout by one hand. But I also realize, if I had been playing that hand everything would have been different and the dealer would not of had the 9-high hand. So in the end it does not matter but it was fun to see the 100 to 1 payout.
Now the other interesting thing that happened took place the following day. The Raging Baritone was banking and the dealer had a 10-high hand which pays 20 to 1. But the rules are slightly different when a player is the banker as opposed to the dealer being the banker. It got even more complicated because there was another player who was playing against Raging Baritone and that player had a bonus bet as well.
There is an explanation in writing about what to do when a player is the banker on the layout. But it is not well written so it was not all that clear. The question is whose hand is used to determine the bonus when a player is the banker. This situation had not come up before (very few people take the bank) so neither the dealer, supervisor or pit boss knew how to handle the situation. Ultimately they had to call upstairs and get some other suit to come down and make a ruling. The question was which hand is used for determining the payout for the banker bonus when a player is banker for A. the player who is banker and B. the player who is playing against the player who is banker. Should the banker hand be determined by the dealer’s hand which is what happens normally when the house is the banker or the player’s hand because he is the banker?
The explanation on the layout seemed to indicate that the dealer’s hand is used to determine the payout for the player who is the banker. So there was not much argument over that issue. But some people thought the hand of the player who was the banker should be used to determine the payout for the other player. In other words use one hand for the banker/player and a different hand for the player playing against the banker/player. Since only the dealer had the 10-high hand the other player wanted to get paid since he felt he was entitled to the bonus as well based on the dealer’s hand.
I later found out that the suit who came down from upstairs was the man responsible for bringing Imperial Pai Gow Poker into this casino. This individual determines what new table games will be used in the casino. So he is the one who analyzes the new games and makes the determination about which ones he thinks will be good for his casino. He decided that the dealer’s hand only should be used for the banker bonus payout. At the time that seemed logical from the written description on the layout.
The next day, that same individual was down in the pit when I was playing Pai Gow Poker. He recognized me from the day before and said he had called the manufacturer of the game. They told him that when a player is the banker, the dealer’s hand is to be used for the banker bonus only against that player who is banking. In addition the hand of the player who is banking can qualify for the side bonus on the player hand. But all the other people in the game who are playing against the player who is banking get paid the banker bonus based on the hand of the player who is banking, not the dealer’s hand. Of course their own individual hand qualifies for the player bonus as well.
This kind of makes sense because the player who is banking is playing against the dealer’s hand. He has to have two hands available to him, one for the banker bonus and one for the player bonus. So it makes sense that the dealer’s hand would be the one to use to determine the banker bonus and the player’s hand the player bonus. But since all the other people are playing against the player who is banking their banker bonus should be based on his hand. In fact after matching the dealer hand against the player/banker hand the dealer puts the dealer hand away and only displays the player’s hand who is banking to be used against all the other players.
That is not how it was done because nobody, including the person who brought the game into the casino could figure out what to do. So they paid both the player and the player/banker the 10-high bonus based on the dealer’s hand. When they suggested doing it a different way the player who would not have been paid raised a big stink and he was yelling the whole time that he should be paid. So in the end I believe the squeaky wheel got his way even though he was not entitled to it.
In the end we all learned something new about the Imperial Pai Gow Poker dealer bonus.
Posted by: ACPA on January 22, 2012, 1:30 am
I assume the bonus is a separate bet?
Noah
Posted by: Skinny on January 22, 2012, 1:56 am
The Imperial Pai Gow Poker bonus bet is a single side bet that pays if either the player and/or dealer has a hand that qualifies for one of the bonus payouts. If both hands qualify for one of the bonus payouts you get paid for both.
The following link has an explanation of the Imperial Pai Gow Poker side bet:
Posted by: Skinny on January 22, 2012, 3:47 pm
Code: Select all
[pre]Analysis of Imperial Pai Gow Sidebet
The Player will be paid according to one of the following paytables.
Hand IPG-01 IPG-05 IPG-08 IPG-12 IPG-13 IPG-14 IPG-15 IPG-16
Pays* Pays* Pays* Pays* Pays* Pays* Pays* Pays*
Player Hands
Five Aces 1000 500 500 1000 500 1000 1000 1000
Royal Flush 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
Straight 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
Flush
Four of 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25
a Kind
Full House 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 5
Flush 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 4
Three of 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
a Kind
Straight 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Dealer Hands
9-High 100 100 100 200 100 100 100 100
10-High 25 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
Jack-High 5 10 5 5 5 10 5 5
*All payouts are ‘To 1’ as the original wager is returned to the Player as well
The following table summarizes the paybacks of each paytable.
The win frequency for each paytable is 19.8455%.
0.1553% of the time the Player will win for both the Player and Dealer hand.
Paytable Payback House Advantage
IPG-01 93.9952% 6.0048%
IPG-05 95.9481% 4.0519%
IPG-08 92.8228% 7.1772%
IPG-12 95.2050% 4.7950%
IPG-13 96.8269% 3.1731%
IPG-14 96.3140% 3.6860%
IPG-15 94.4755% 5.5245%
IPG-16 97.1928% 2.8072%[/pre]
Posted by: Skinny on January 23, 2012, 5:14 pm
"CIII" wrote: Skinny, I want to learn Pai Gow. Is it a winnable game?
Yes, it is a winnable game. It is possible to get an advantage at Pai Gow Poker.
There is no GTC book on Pai Gow Poker yet. Frank can give you more details about when one will be available.
But I teach a class on Advantage Play Methods for Pai Gow Poker at our classes. The next one will be this March in Atlantic City. You can read the details in the following link:
http://www.goldentouchcraps.com/ap_friday.shtml
The class is geared toward those who have a working knowledge of how the game is played. But if you have never played before it would still be beneficial.
I have decided to give a primer for free to anyone who signs up for the class and has not played the game before or any students who just want to brush up on the mechanics of the game. I will give this primer 30 minutes before the regular class begins. Just let them know when you sign up for the class that you want to take my primer as well.
I will be dealing out a few hands and explain how it would work in the casino. It is a simple game to learn.
Even if you have never played the game you can learn how it is played and the class on Advantage Play will teach you how to get an advantage. It is an excellent game to have as an addition to your advantage play arsenal. It is a great way to be able to sit and socialize or to relax in between craps sessions.
Posted by: Not2soon on January 23, 2012, 6:32 pm
Posted by: Dominator on January 23, 2012, 9:15 pm
Dominator
Posted by: Not2soon on January 23, 2012, 9:51 pm
"Dominator" wrote: I love Pai Gow! 😮
Dominator
Yes, NOTHING makes Dom happier than Pai Gow and salty pasta!!!!!!
😆
Posted by: Goddess on January 24, 2012, 11:38 am
Goddess
